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Labor History Seminar: Tamsen Anderson, DePaul University

“Transforming Chicago’s Industrial Periphery: The Early Development of Chicago Heights, East Chicago and Waukegan”Tamsen Anderson, DePaul University

This paper examines the influential role that large, well-capitalized real estate syndicates played in the formative development of three of Chicago’s industrial suburbs: Chicago Heights, East Chicago and Waukegan. Although less well known than the company towns of Gary and Pullman, these speculative industrial suburbs were far more representative of the type of urban development that occurred on the industrial outskirts of American cities at the turn of the twentieth century. This paper demonstrates that real estate syndicates’ sustained involvement in the city-building process helped transform Chicago’s outskirts into one of the most heavily industrialized parts of the country.

Commentators: Joe Bigott, Purdue University Calumet and Ann Durkin Keating, North Central College